


scorpion tongue

by theformerone



Series: naruto femslash week 2018 [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/F, Third Shinobi War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 02:54:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15877023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: Yoshino is sent to Suna to steal samples of Akasuna no Sasori's poison repertoire. She gets caught.Day 5: Secret Admirer





	scorpion tongue

Poison is deadly. Necessary. Not obvious until it's too late. Hatsume Yoshino is the best damn poison's expert that Konoha has seen in generations. She's got nothing on Senju Tsunade's ability to reverse engineer them, but half the work of being a poison's expert is being able to use them instead of just making them. And Yoshino is the best damn actress Konoha has to offer. 

It isn't enough. Nothing is ever enough in war. 

It's why she's in Suna, elbow deep in sand and desperate. She's well aware that this could all blow up in her face, but Yoshino took this mission for a reason. She's a tokubetsu jounin because she's an expert in her field. But she knows Chiyo has an apprentice, and with an apprentice comes innovation. 

Whoever Chiyo took on was bound to expand on her repertoire. Konoha wanted whatever that kid had cooked up and Yoshino was going to get it. 

She's about an inch away from getting it, too, her fingers ghosting gently over a number of slim, neatly marked vials. Her brown eyes narrow into careful slits as she reads over them. Whoever this Akasuna no Sasori is one wicked son of a bitch. Nearly all his stuff starts out from his namesake, scorpion venom. But there's stuff from snakes too, and artificially created metal based toxins that make Yoshino grateful she's wearing gloves to handle them. 

"You don't belong here, Konoha."

Yoshino stills, curses herself, wonders if this is how she's going to die. She literally had her fingers on the answer. On a little piece of something that could help tip the war in Konoha's favor. 

"Turn around."

She does, slowly. Her hands aren't raised high nor do they hang lax at her sides, they just settle, hovering at her hips. It would be easy to flick her wrists, press down at the levers there and shoot an array of senbon at the person that's caught her. 

But she's gorgeous. 

She's blonde, with eyes green as fresh sprung leaves in spring. She doesn't wear a hitai-ate but she holds herself the way all Suna kunoichi do; like the fact that she hasn't killed you yet is a favor she's considering cashing in. 

She's fanning herself with a small paper fan, dark purple. Her hair is pulled back in two high ponytails. She isn't dressed for combat, but Yoshino knows better. The woman is standing too easy, too lithe. She's too relaxed to be anything other than utterly dangerous. 

The woman smirks, the fan kicking up the hair on her forehead. 

"You look just like him," she muses. 

Yoshino tenses; Suna wasn't that involved in the war, were they? That they would take Konoha shinobi for spies? The woman must see something cross her face, because she laughs. 

"Don't mind me, Konoha, don't mind me at all," she says, still waving her fan. She jerks her head towards the vials Yoshino had been pouring over and says, "Take your fill."

"So you'll have something to lift off my corpse when you need an excuse to - ,"

"Suna doesn't need an excuse, sweetheart," the woman says, cutting her off. She seems so blasé about it, so unconcerned about the foreign shinobi in her presence. That usually meant that she didn't quantify Yoshino as a threat. "You're not the only spy sent through these parts, and you're especially not the only person trying to get your hands on that."

Yoshino purses her lips and weighs her options. The woman huffs, puts her foot on the wall behind her. 

"Take em'," she insists. "Sasori needs less killing material, and I could use an edge. That son of a bitch has been on my shit list for years."

Yoshino narrows her eyes, but she doesn't need to be told a third time. She opens the kit she keeps in her pack and sets the vials inside in the exact order they're in, in the display. When she turns again, the woman is standing in the exact same place. She hasn't moved an inch. 

"You're good to go then," the woman says. 

Yoshino nods, still feeling unsteady on her feet. The woman rises from leaning on the wall, still fanning herself. 

"Be careful with those," the woman says, voice light despite the clear intensity of her warning. "Wouldn't wanna hurt yourself."

"Right." 

"You're pretty important to someone," she continues, almost blithely. Almost bored. "So don't touch any of them with bare hands. Wouldn't be worth the hassle."

Yoshino narrows her eyes and settles her kit back in her pack. 

"Who?" she asks. 

The woman smiles, and it's more like watching a wolf bare its teeth than seeing someone look kind.

"Me," she says, voice curt. "Now get out before I see something."

Yoshino nods slowly. There's only one exit that she knows of, and it's through the door that the woman is currently standing in. She only steps aside when Yoshino goes past, and Yoshino can get the faintest smell of aloe and burnt sugar as she passes by. 

She's prettier up close. It's unfortunate. 

If Yoshino didn't have to go back, she just might - 

The woman smirks at her and offers her a saucy wink. 

"Keep it in your pants, kid," she says, "and scatter. I've got places to be."

"Thanks," Yoshino says slowly, eyes flickering over the woman's face. She's trying to see if she's in the Bingo Book somewhere, or at least if she's been described to Yoshino as someone to look out for in Suna. But there's nothing. Just a girl with a paper fan. 

"Tessen," Yoshino says. "Thank you, tessen."

It makes the woman snort, but a laugh does follow. Yoshino counts it as a victory. Tessen wave her hand to tell her to leave again, and this time Yoshino finally does. 

She books it back home, runs hard and fast until she crosses the border in less than a day. She hears later that Akasuna no Sasori dies attempting to kill the Kazekage. That the attempt made Suna concede, pull back and out of the fighting. 

Yoshino is in the middle of reverse engineering one of his poisons when she finds out. And she has to wonder about the woman that smelled of aloe and sugar, who said the now recently dead puppeteer was on her shit list. 

There's no way to be sure who took down Akasuna no Sasori. Just like there's no way to tell who raided his stock of poisons shortly before his attempt on the Kazekage's life. 

No way to tell at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> had to fudge the ages to make it work, but hey, that's what fanfiction is for


End file.
